Sunday, August 27, 2017

August 27th...This Day in History (Now with links to other events)

Krakatau explodes 1883

The most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history occurs
on Krakatau (also called Krakatoa), a small, uninhabited volcanic island
located west of Sumatra in Indonesia, on this day in 1883. Heard 3,000
miles away, the explosions threw five cubic miles of earth 50 miles into
the air, created 120-foot tsunamis and killed 36,000 people.

Krakatau exhibited its first stirrings in more than 200 years on May
20, 1883. A German warship passing by reported a seven-mile high cloud
of ash and dust over Krakatau. For the next two months, similar
explosions would be witnessed by commercial liners and natives on nearby
Java and Sumatra. With little to no idea of the impending catastrophe,
the local inhabitants greeted the volcanic activity with festive
excitement.

On August 26 and August 27, excitement turned to horror as Krakatau
literally blew itself apart, setting off a chain of natural disasters
that would be felt around the world for years to come. An enormous blast
on the afternoon of August 26 destroyed the northern two-thirds of the
island; as it plunged into the Sunda Strait, between the Java Sea and
Indian Ocean, the gushing mountain generated a series of pyroclastic
flows (fast-moving fluid bodies of molten gas, ash and rock) and
monstrous tsunamis that swept over nearby coastlines. Four more
eruptions beginning at 5:30 a.m. the following day proved cataclysmic.
The explosions could be heard as far as 3,000 miles away, and ash was
propelled to a height of 50 miles. Fine dust from the explosion drifted
around the earth, causing spectacular sunsets and forming an atmospheric
veil that lowered temperatures worldwide by several degrees.

Of the estimated 36,000 deaths resulting from the eruption, at least
31,000 were caused by the tsunamis created when much of the island fell
into the water. The greatest of these waves measured 120 feet high, and
washed over nearby islands, stripping away vegetation and carrying
people out to sea. Another 4,500 people were scorched to death from the
pyroclastic flows that rolled over the sea, stretching as far as 40
miles, according to some sources.

In addition to Krakatau, which is still active, Indonesia has another
130 active volcanoes, the most of any country in the world.

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